-Strength for Today- A Focused Strategy for Your Daily Prayer Life Plez Lovelady, Jr., PhD “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with new wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” – Isaiah 40:31 The difference between throwing up a few “prayer words” and using your tool of prayer for the glory of God is obvious. When you truly pray, you are committed to refreshing reward needed for truly experiencing God. It is rewarding for your mind, body, and soul. However, there must be a strategy for your daily prayer life. There are two main reasons for this strategy. 1. There has to be a desire: To develop a regular time, you have to really want to do it. Many people complain that they lack the time to pray. Many say that they (Christians) are just too busy. Beloved, we all have the same twenty-four hours. These same people, if they were honest with themselves, they’d realize that they make time for what they really care about. If you really want to spend time praying, use the tool of spiritual desire, and give up something else, and just do it. If the lack of desire is keeping you from developing a deep daily time with God, • Stop what you’re doing and pray for it right now! • If you ask God for the desire, He will give it to you right now! 2. There has to be a practical plan for daily prayer: The idea of spending an extended daily time with of is very intimidating to a lot of people. Most people do not view prayer from the intent of its purpose and power. Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father…..” When you pray, you should pray as if you are talking to a close friend. Even before you rise from your bed, there should be a focused and practical plan for your daily walk with God. When you talk about watching television for an hour, that doesn’t sound like very much time. But if you ask someone to spend an hour with God praying, it sounds like a lifetime. However, if you approach your daily time with a good a graceful plan, you can develop a quality devotion time that’s not only rewarding, but life- changing. The ultimate purpose of prayer is that you learn to grow in “one-ship” with God. The power of a planned purposed prayer is GROWTH: • G – Go to God in prayer daily. • R – Read God’s Word daily. • O – Obey God moment by moment. • W – Witness for Christ by words and deeds. • T – Trust God for every detail of your life. • H – Holy Spirit, allow God to control and empower our daily lives. Prayer is your intimate recourse with God. But I wonder if you ever think about the elements that are yours because of who and what Jesus did for us? No place in he Old Testament do we find this intimate recourse to God as we have because of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, your focused strategy for a daily prayer life must be positional and relational. • Positional because of your new found place in Christ. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” From the old position to the new simply indicates the new position in the family of God that salvation brings. The grace of God not only justifies but also makes “a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17), which results in a changed position of your life. Never allow you position to keep you from confessing sin. No matter who you are, what you do, or what your position is in the church, you are never above the need to confess sin and pray for forgiveness. If you think you are, you’re too big for God! • Relational denotes what it means to receive Him as your personal Savior. Prior to the acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ, the entire human race was alienated from 1. fellowship with God. 2. Therefore, it then became impossible to be in a relationship with a God who hates sin. Your relationship is now predicated upon your belief in the Son of God. “But as many as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” -John 1:12.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 05:59:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015